Inter Island Ferry Service

[Karlos]

Its about the boat getting into or out of the side of the pier, the boat that ties up fir the night can have problems depending on the wind speed and direction.

[MuckleJoannie]

Other islands are starting to think tunnels are a good idea.

 

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18141445.new-tunnel-vision-will-end-ferry-chaos-islanders/

Edited January 7, 2020 by MuckleJoannie

[NullVoid]

Tunnels and bridges may cost more to build and maintain than a ferry service

 

Some areas with lots of traffic maybe it could work out more viable to have a ticket gate tunnel than staffing boats

some areas would have too high a Cost to benefit ratio and i would assume a toll booth would exist because these aren't cheap to build

 

Depends where

a Lerwick to Bressay bridge or tunnel?

 

probably sensible to build it in an area with either the shortest distance or calmest/shallowest waters.

What about a Bressay to Whalsay or North mainland tunnel?

Or a high speed tunnel from near Scalloway to the fabled settlement of Twatt?

 

Pulling names out of a hat for this but these tunnels could potentially have something capable of traveling faster than a ferry so maybe the time saved is the benefit.

 

These would need to be commercially viable so lets say hypothetically such a network would be built to save on helicopter costs to the oilrigs?

 

List of Airports

  Fair Isle Airport
  Foula Airfield
  Papa Stour Airstrip
  RAF Catfirth
  Scatsta Airport
  Sumburgh Airport
  Tingwall Airport
  Unst Airport
  Whalsay Airstrip
 

Its probable that the government and anyone else involved would lose money on this so the argument in favor would be that proposed bridges would have an economic benefit outweighing the initial cost

 

Arran an island of less than 5000 people was the example used in the article and ageing fleet of boats were described as part of the problem.

still that island has about 1/5 of the population of Shetland and outnumbering all the islands except "Mainland"

Also the population of the western isles were projected to have a more sharp population drop from exodus of people searching for higher paying jobs compared with the northern isles so maybe the tunnel thing is about making commuter housing possible there.

[Wheelsup]

A lot RAF Catfirth's traffic could be done in tunnels nowadays.^

[ll]

You missed Out Skerries!

[Ghostrider]

Tunnels and bridges may cost more to build and maintain than a ferry service

That's probably a no brainer with SIC Ports & Harbours, or whateve rthey're called these days, building and running them.

 

Our nearest neighbours both east and west seem to make tunnels and bridges work out, When they consider that boring and upkeeping a tunnel of over a mile in length between two settlements with a combined population of well under 1000 souls, is the most viable option than upkeeping an existing road which has issues with avalanches/landslides, its very hard to believe how building multi million pound boats that need replacing every 25-30 year, paying crew wages, maintenance and repair costs, and almost certainly an eye watering diesel bill, is somehow the 'best value' option for here.

[NullVoid]

 

Tunnels and bridges may cost more to build and maintain than a ferry service

That's probably a no brainer with SIC Ports & Harbours, or whateve rthey're called these days, building and running them.

 

Our nearest neighbours both east and west seem to make tunnels and bridges work out, When they consider that boring and upkeeping a tunnel of over a mile in length between two settlements with a combined population of well under 1000 souls, is the most viable option than upkeeping an existing road which has issues with avalanches/landslides, its very hard to believe how building multi million pound boats that need replacing every 25-30 year, paying crew wages, maintenance and repair costs, and almost certainly an eye watering diesel bill, is somehow the 'best value' option for here.

 

Norway is number 1 on Human Development Index

And UK 15 on the index

 

Denmark is number 11

Faroe islands is also somewhat autonomous but tied to Dennmark so that’s relevant

 

 

In 2014 the EU tried to take sanctions and punitive measures against Faroe islands for selling fish to Russia indicating Faroe islands have some legal privileges Denmark does not when it comes to trade and also twice the population of Shetland lives there

 

Multiple islands with more than 3000 people and a more evenly spread population.

 

UK is richer on paper but who gets to use that wealth is key,  large swaths of the UK are broke and their situation is unlikely to ever improve

 

Plus why would the UK government invest in something that helps its citizens when it could use that money to give the bankers cash prizes for mismanagement or finance a war in a far away place incapable of attacking British soil

 

Governments have suspiciously scarce funds for some things but suspiciously high funds available for others after all!

 

I read about somebody being denied planning permission for a restaurant in north Shetland because people would likely drive there causing pollution or something, I think he appealed but the guy was building that with his own resources

 

What are people going to do inside these tunnels again?

 

Drive?

 

Governments are pushing green energy and public transport as a wedge issue.

 

If you propose linking some islands together and putting in a high speed electric train (which can be computerized/automated) you can run that off windmills and a politician can make a song and dance about cutting carbon emissions or something.

Governments of most first world countries have set renewable energy targets mostly to cull remaining first world industry and so they can stop the third world from industrializing by imposing this on everybody

Except china and friends of course!

 

if tunnels were built in the right places and high speed vehicles were used maybe you could aim for something ambitious like getting to places faster than you could in a car a  ring road train plan to get the tunnels built

 

Public transport is pushed by the many Anti-car politicians you need to appeal to the right politicians  to get this funded after all

 

[Wheelsup]

 

 

If you propose linking some islands together and putting in a high speed electric train (which can be computerized/automated) you can run that off windmills

The Electric Train from Sumburgh to Brae stopping at Lerwick would be excellent.

[NullVoid]

You would need to dynamite a ton of land to get it level

Undersea tunnels are entirely enclosed buildings and oil rigs and turbines are built in the open ocean all the time therefore support beams could be built too in areas with above average depth

 

 

maybe a path like

Aithsetter

-

Bressay

-

Another island or somewhere in north mainland

 

Maybe a train to brae from the west coast would be more viable or a circular that could allow a passenger to encircle Shetland within 3 hours

 

 

Faeroe bridges are linking islands that are fairly close together populated islands in Shetland are a bit more far flung from population centers in the mainland with most people living within a walking distance of Lerwick

so a circular

Like a ring road but with rail link, you need to be faster than cars for it to be worth the effort after all.

[George.]

If this train ran from Northmavine to Lerwick, it would be great.

 

If, of course, it got you to Lerwick in time for the bus to Sumburgh.

[NullVoid]

better route for these tunnels to get there would be

Northmavine - Walls - Scalloway possibly with some islands along the route

 

if it was a circular you would need to take the long way round to get to Lerwick
Would make sense to just get a bus in Scalloway instead if that was built unless the makes landfall further south

 

One would assume they want to reduce traffic on roads the environmentalist perspective can basically be summarized like this

 

Cars Bad

Public transit good

[Wheelsup]

Linking Fair Isle to Foula by tunnel would be good for both communities. 

[NullVoid]

here is my guess based on a list of islands with more people than Vaila except Foula and Fair isle

If you had a 2 trains go back and fourth in each and got a bus to the other tunnel each time you arrived you could go round in a circle and visit all the islands i drew on the same day and if it was a particularly fast train

 

and presumably everybody could get to Scalloway islands or Bressay and therefore Lerwick

[George.]

They are seriously considering a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland. It will be about 12 miles long and no doubt available 24 hours every single day.

Skerries will be jealous.

Bridge plan for Scotland and Ireland gets global spotlight on CNN